


Crippled

by Flightless_Bird



Series: Stitches [10]
Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Apologies, Bullying, Cecil Has Tentacles, Desert Bluffs, Eldritch Horrors, Hurt/Comfort, Inhuman characters, Other, Post-Strex Kevin, References to Abuse, References to strex takeover, Strexcorp, Tryptich, also a long one, angry kevin, carlos is sweet, god this is a heavy one, high schoolers are jerks, kevin is hurting again I’m sorry, otherworld references, stitches au, vanessa mentioned - Freeform, warning:language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 17:05:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17491877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flightless_Bird/pseuds/Flightless_Bird
Summary: It was something their Voice preferred not to speak of, but Kevin wasn’t putting up with it anymore.





	Crippled

**Author's Note:**

> I am back with a new installment! I hope, as always, that you enjoy, and stick around to read more if you want! Thank you! :)

Kevin hunched down farther as he walked, trying to block out the voices behind him. He wanted desperately to duck into a side shop or even better, reach the damn grocery store he was trying to find in the first place. But Night Vale streets were still unfamiliar to him and he didn’t know where he would be welcome or how lost he might become.

“Hey! I know you can hear us!”

“We just wanna talk! Or did the re-educators cut out your tongue to finally shut you up?”

Kevin gritted his teeth and stared stubbornly at the sidewalk passing under his feet. The two—a girl and a boy, maybe in high school—had been tailing him ever since he’d passed by them three blocks ago. They’d recognized him by his short time on Night Vale radio during the Strex takeover. People were sending him pitying glances or disgusted glares as he walked by them. None of them offered any help.

/Just keep walking. Just keep walking./

“Why’re you running away?”

“Aww, sad you don’t have your god anymore? Wish you could go home?”

“Trust me, we wish you’d go back too, Strexpet!”

Kevin halted jerkily. Something sank like molten metal into his veins and he turned to face the two following him.

The girl grinned, sick glee twisting her features. She was taller than the black-haired boy next to her, and judging by their shared, olive skin and dark eyes, Kevin guessed they were siblings. “Oh, you can hear us now, huh?” she asked, cocking her head. “Took you long enough.”

“What did you call me?” Kevin asked slowly.

/“Strex. Pet,”/ the boy returned, as though explaining something to a young child. His mouth crooked up into an ugly smile. “Does it piss you off because it’s true?”

Kevin’s lip curled, fangs catching the light. “You’re disgusting.”

“We’re not the ones who worked for a damn cult,” the girl spat back. Something burned deep within her gaze and Kevin wondered briefly if someone she’d known had been hurt by Strex.

“‘That damn cult’ destroyed my town,” he growled.

“Yeah, and then you joined them.” She didn’t back down, chin up and seemingly unafraid.

“You don’t understand a word of what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t act like it’s a lie.” She sniffed. “You can’t come into our town, acting like you belong here, and expect us to go along with it. We all know where you came from. Your fucked-up face says it all.”

He saw red, and the black, squirming thing inside of him wanted to see more. He knew the exact method to use to rip their limbs off as painfully as possible, but he never made it that far.

“Hey, guys! Sorry to interrupt your little, ah, conversation, but Kevin and I had agreed to meet here today and we can’t be late!”

Kevin froze as something beneath his stitches wriggled and his vocal chords seemed to shiver. There was an arm around him, on his shoulders, and it was as pure black as his own skin, and he wanted to throw up—

The high school girl backed down. “Cecil, hi,” she stammered with a trace of shame.

The boy, however, hadn’t lost his nerve facing the Voice of Night Vale. “Why’re /you two/ meeting up?” he asked.

“We’re friends!” Cecil chirped.

Kevin grumbled under his breath.

“But he’s one of those—”

Cecil took a step forward, eyes going staticky and dark.

 

/I said,/

 

he answered, voice pitched past radio to something farther,

 

/We’re friends./

 

The two kids squeaked short apologies, bid them a happy day, and practically sprinted down the sidewalk.

Kevin didn’t sheathe his claws until Cecil’s arm was off of him.

“Sorry about that,” Cecil exhaled, taking a step back while rubbing his forehead. “I don’t know what’s gotten into people nowadays, it’s terrible.” He shook his head, then smiled brightly at Kevin. “But I’m glad you’re getting out and about more, Kevin!” An attempt at conversation.

Kevin looked over the other radio host dryly. It was like a warped mirror, a broken mirror, gazing back at him. Cecil’s hair was cleaner-cut and he was just a bit wider at the shoulders and midsection than Kevin was. His eyes were brilliantly violet, the color that Kevin’s had once been—or well, one eye was violet; the other had been injured and was now a pale, creamy color. The eyelids of his second set were closed, little crescents of purple on his cheeks. Jealousy scorched Kevin’s heart.

Finally, after the silence had become so awkward, it physically hurt, he muttered, “hi, Cecil.”

Cecil’s smile grew hopeful, almost apologetic. “Hi,” he said, even though he had already greeted the other Voice. “How’ve you been? You, uh, you look nice without your collar.”

“Just fine,” Kevin answered shortly. “Thanks.”

“…….um. So…you’ve gotta radio station again? Dana told me about it.”

“Yeah.”

“…..how….is it?”

“Great.”

“Oh. Good.” Cecil looked down, biting his lip. His fingers played nervously with his wedding ring.

Kevin wanted to disappear into a black hole, but a glimmer of happiness lit up somewhere inside of him in spite of it. “How’s Carlos?” he asked.

“He’s great,” Cecil answered warmly, encouraged. “He keeps saying we should have you over for dinner sometime, so I was hoping I’d run into you toda—”

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Kevin mumbled, shutting off again. Seeing Carlos again would have been nice, but socializing with both him /and/ Cecil…?

Another long pause.

Then Cecil ventured timidly, “why…why do you hate me?”

A twinge of guilt cut into Kevin’s anger, but it wasn’t enough for him to apologize for his behavior. He met Cecil’s eyes. “Why do you think?” he asked, each word low and deliberate.

Cecil flinched. “I—I know that I hurt you,” he stammered. “A lot.”

Kevin straightened, surprised.

“And I said a lot of things while you were under Strex,” Cecil continued, “and then there was…that time.” He coughed into his hand. “I don’t know what it must’ve been like, losing someone you were close to like that.”

Kevin inhaled long and slow.

“…but I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything, Kevin.”

/Wow, I— Maybe I’ve been being a jerk—/

“But it’s okay now, I hope? I mean, I know it was really hard, when Carlos left the Otherworld, but you’ve been better?”

Kevin’s brow furrowed, and he stared at Cecil in confusion. “Wait…. What?”

Cecil blinked. “Well, Carlos told me the two of you got really close and I knew that it was rough on you, so I—”

“Is /that/ what you’re apologizing for?” Kevin demanded, his claws slipping out again against his will.“For—for my stupid little crush on your husband?”

Cecil didn’t say anything, but the look on his face said it all.

Kevin was actually going to kill him. He raked his hands through his hair. “Gods—how can you be so—? I’m not angry because you’re married!” he snapped. “Are you serious?”

“I—”

“You lied!” Kevin vibrated with every sharp emotion clawing up his chest now. “I hate you because you lied to me!”

“I don’t know what you’re—”

/“You told me we would win, you bastard!”/

A couple bystanders edged away from the scene warily and a mother shooed her child from the sidewalk with her. Cecil was looking at Kevin with something akin to horror on his face. Swallowing, he spoke quietly, “I thought that I had to.”

“Had to?!” Kevin repeated. “What kind of bullshit is that?!”

“I didn't know how it would affect time.”

“I'll tell you how it would affect time! I could've warned them! I could've evacuated the town, I could've gotten her out of there—/I could've saved her, Cecil!” /His eyes were on fire and he could feel his stitches like burns in his face. “I could've saved /all/ of them, but you fucking lied to me, and I lost my home! Do you understand?! I lost my home, my family, my wife, and all you care about is stupid time and your own /goddamn future!”/

Kevin shoved him.

Stumbling back, Cecil caught himself before he could fall. A gasp left him, and his second set of eyes opened, vivid lavender sparks. Instinct pulled out his tentacles from his back, four black limbs that curved to point toward Kevindefensively.

A crippled god, Kevin showed his claws anyway and snarled, teeth sharpened to jagged points by years of Strex modification. “/I'm not afraid of you,”/ he growled. His voice could still reach pitches that sent glitches across his skin and made the air thrum.

Cecil’s stance was shivery—he didn't want to fight. But he should've thought of that before he tried to talk to Kevin today. Kevin advanced on him and—

“Kevin, wait!”

Both Voices went still as Carlos appeared from a side shop, where he’d probably been waiting for Cecil. He hurried between them, arms spread protectively. “Don’t do this,” he pleaded, dark eyes flitting from Cecil to Kevin and back again. “Please. It’s been hard enough without adding all this fighting.”

Kevin’s throat closed up. “H—hard? You can talk about ‘hard’ when you’ve been through /half/ of the shit I have!” His voice threatened to stammer and he steeled himself. “First, Strex, and then that miserable Otherworld…and now this. Do you know what that /felt/ like?”

“Yes,” Carlos answered evenly, his expression softening to an old memory.

Face pink, Kevin looked away. Carlos might not have been subjected to the same torment as Kevin under Strex, but he had fought them and he had been locked away from everyone who mattered in an abandoned desert. Shame sheathed Kevin’s claws. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

Carlos sighed, and behind him, Cecil’s tentacles faded to nothing. “I know I can’t know what it really feels like, Kevin,” Carlos said quietly. He pushed his hair out of his eyes—/black hair, curls at the ends, just a little longer and he would be her mirror…/ “But I know that it was terrible for you, and that nothing we say will change how that feels. But I mean it, and Cecil means it, when we say that I’m so so sorry.”

Kevin sniffed, and rubbed at his temple. “I know,” he whispered. And he did know.

Kevin wasn’t stupid. He knew Cecil well enough to know that he had only done what he thought was right, and that now that he’d seen the effects, he regretted it. He’d never wanted anything like this to happen. But without Strex to hate anymore, there were little options for him to sink his fangs into.

“I just—” He choked, and pressed a hand to his mouth. Cecil and Carlos stepped forward as one, concerned. “I just don’t know what to do without them,” he sobbed at last, and then the scientist and the Voice were holding him.

He was crying in the street, hated by this town, and yet the two people with perhaps the most weight in Night Vale had him in their arms. Kevin hadn’t shown this level of vulnerability to /anyone/, for longer than he knew. For a moment, he considered pushing away.

“It's okay, Kevin,” Cecil murmured—and Kevin threw his arms around them and held on for dear life.

“I—I'm just so—so—”

“You don't have to say anything.”

Hiccuping, Kevin buried his head in Carlos’ shoulder.

Nothing was okay, not yet. But it was something better than what they’d been before and that would have to be enough for now.


End file.
